By Loán C. Lake
Nestled on the edge of Charlotte’s city center at 700 N. Tryon St. in Charlotte is the VAPA Center, a locally run arts space for the visual and performing arts. Home to more than 370 creatives of various crafts and backgrounds, the VAPA Center is a hub for musicians, dancers, culture bearers, painters and potters to showcase their creativity in an affordable and communal way.
Since its inception in December 2020 and subsequent opening in 2021, the VAPA Center has emerged as an artist collective in the heart of Charlotte that is home to more than twenty arts organizations. Under the leadership of Arthur Rogers Jr. as the executive director, and 12 board members, what started as an idea during the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a multi-story nexus where artists can create masterpieces and share them with the community.
As you step foot onto the premises, you are greeted with vivid paintings, woodwork and photography depicting various aspects of life. A stroll through the hallways reveals the work of myriad artists at every turn. From multimedia to murals featuring messages of empowerment, and art galleries, this 158,000-square-foot facility has something for everyone.
“We envisioned a creative space where local artists could showcase and sell their work without the worry of exorbitant rents. Now, each artist is coming in and bringing their network with them to be a part of the VAPA community,” said Executive Director Arthur Rogers Jr., whose vibrant paintings are also featured in the space. “We probably have every demographic in the building – Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, veteran, woman-owned, and the art lives in the building,” Rogers said.
After Spirit Square closed in 2020, a select group of arts leaders and organizations seized the opportunity to utilize Mecklenburg County’s Hal Marshall Center to house a new arts collective.
The group met regularly for about a year and a half to solidify the concept, holding fast to the vision of a space where local artists could work collaboratively and support one another. Charlotte’s Off-Broadway is one of the founding arts organizations at the VAPA Center. One of its founding members is award-winning actor, director and producer Anne Lambert, who also co-created Chickspeare — Charlotte’s all-female Shakespeare company. Charlotte’s Off-Broadway is a 55-seat, black-box theater and rehearsal space that can be rented by the public.
“I really like producing and doing work in uptown Charlotte. The VAPA Center was a partnership with independent artists. Those of us who were ready to leap into the abyss, cleaned, painted and scavenged furniture. We created the heart and soul of independent artistry in Charlotte,” Lambert said. “The VAPA Center is the coolest, ‘vibe-iest’ facility and we are a part of the economic infrastructure of this city.”
Arthur Rogers credits his wife Joanne, founder of Nine Eighteen Nine Studio Gallery, and her tenacity and reputation as an arts leader as one of the key elements to the Center’s initial success.
The pair had seen other examples of arts collectives but had not worked with the other interested parties before. The shared interest to birth an affordable space for Charlotte creatives and the community to gather, coupled with the county’s support resulted in the center opening when it did.
The full roster of The VAPA Center’s founding members includes:
• Nine Eighteen Nine Studio Gallery
• BLKMRKCLT
• Gay Men’s Chorus of Charlotte and Women’s Chorus of Charlotte
• Charlotte Comedy Theater
• Charlotte’s Off-Broadway
• JazzArts Charlotte
• Levine Museum of the New South
• McColl Center
• OBRA Collective
• The Arts Empowerment Project
• The Light Factory
• Arthur Rogers Jr.
“We have seen an increase in visitorship of over 2300 percent since January 2024, and it is proving that there’s so much of a need for this type of venue so that artists can connect to the community,” Rogers said. “Our initial lease with the county was for three years, and renewable every six months.
We just received a $1.7 million grant to do improvements on the building and extended the lease for five years.” Rogers has ambitious plans to secure more long-term space that could be built to the way their artists work, and accommodate crafts such as pottery, and metallurgy.
The VAPA Center is open Mondays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. The center hosts open studios on the first Saturday of each month where visitors can view the artists in their workspaces as they work. For those looking to start or expand their art collection, or simply support local artists, original works of art are available for purchase on-site.
Learn more about the VAPA Center at vapacenter.com.